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Joan Ross Sorkin

Joan Ross Sorkin

She/Her

Biography

JOAN ROSS SORKIN is a playwright, musical theatre bookwriter and lyricist, opera librettist, and dramaturg. Plays: Joan is most proud of her one-woman play with music, (mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story, which premiered at Emerging Artists Theatre (Drama Desk nom. for Capathia Jenkins), also at Chicago Humanities Festival (Black Theatre Alliance nom. for Capathia Jenkins), Jefferson playhouse and The Schoolhouse Theater. Other plays produced in NYC and regionally. Her new COVID play, This Is Serious, had two Zoom readings during the pandemic: Ken Davenport’s TheaterMakers Studio (Best Play of the Year nom./Best Director nom. for Nick Corley) and The Schoolhouse Theater. Musicals: Black Swan Blues, Imagining Monet, In The Theatre, Dandelion, The Real McCoy and award-winning family musicals Isabelle and The Pretty Ugly Spell (National Children’s Theatre Award) and Go Green! (Jackie White National Memorial Children’s Play Writing Award-Second Place). Her musical work has enjoyed productions/readings/workshops in NY, PA, CT and FL. Operas: Strange Fruit, developed at New York City Opera, commissioned and premiered by Long Leaf Opera; White Witch, premiered at Symphony Space, concert at Roulette, and second production at Salem State U.; The Reef, with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis, was a Finalist for the Domenic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize. New opera projects: Jubilee and Paradise Bound. Cabaret: Birdland, Don’t Tell Mama, The Zipper, Broadway Baby Bistro, Opia, Lincoln Center Library Theatre. Her COVID song, “One Small Box,” was nominated as Best Song of the Year by TheaterMakers Studio and featured on www.musicalmtheatreradio.com. Founder, playwright and director of Kids on Stage (Emelin Theatre, Rye Arts Center, Scarsdale Schools). Member: The Dramatists Guild, BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, ASCAP, Opera America, League of Professional Theatre Women, and Pres., Board of York Theatre Company. www.joanrosssorkin.com

Professional Experience

  • Off Broadway
  • Regional
  • Concerts/Cabaret
  • Education

Regions

  • NYC/Tri-State Area

Maestra Expertise

  • Theatrical Lyricist
  • Theatrical Bookwriter

Affiliations

  • ASCAP
  • THE DRAMATISTS GUILD